THE YOUNG FARMER'S MANUAL. 435 



saw mav^e made with its edges straight and square, like the 

 jointei^^m crosscut saw. (See Fig. 182.) In order to have a 

 saw work well, it should be jointed every alternate time it is 

 filed. A skillful filer will take a square block a foot long, and 

 one by three inches square, and place the flat side of it against 

 the side of the saw, and, holding the jointing-file on the edge of 

 the block, joint the teeth very true. 



LENGTH OF THE CUTTING EDGE OF A SAW. 



672^-. When a saw is worked by a crank and pitman, all the 

 teeth beyond a given point had better be cut away ; because, it 

 is only a waste of time and tools, to keep them in order with the 

 teeth that do all the sawing. The teeth below the rabbet on the 

 head-block, when the crank is up never cut any, unless in sawing 

 a log with a bow downwards. If the stroke of the crank be 

 twenty-four inches, and the logs one foot in diameter, three feet 

 of the cutting edge is all that is brought in contact with the log ; 

 and a cutting edge of greater length would be useless. If the 

 logs be two feet in diameter, and twenty-four-inch stroke of the 

 crank, the cutting edge should be four feet long. If the logs be 

 three feet in diameter, the cutting edge of the saw should be not 

 less than four and a half feet long. When the crank is down, 

 all the teeth above the log are useless. 



673. This rule holds good in regard to saws that are worked 

 horizontally. In sawing off logs two feet in diameter with a 

 crank having a twenty-eight-inch stroke, the cutting edge should 

 be four feet and four inches long. With the same crank, for saw 

 ing off logs only one foot, three feet four inches of the cutting 

 edge is all that saws. 



674. There is, many times, two or three inches in length of 

 the cutting edge of hand-saws near the handle, which never saws 

 any, and is worse than useless ; because, the teeth must all be 

 filed off in order to keep them of the same length as those in the 

 middle of the saw. These suggestions will enable the young 

 filer to understand how large a number of teeth near the ends of 

 his saw are useless. 



